Medicinal tablet breaker

ABSTRACT

A device readily formable in a bottle cap for breaking medicinal tablets into parts suitable for reduced dosages.

United States Patent Heitzman [4 1 Mar. 21, 1972 [541 MEDICINAL TABLETBREAKER [56] References Cited [72] 1nventor: Charles J. l-leitzman,Honolulu, Hawaii UNITED STATES PATENTS [7 1 Assigneel Wilmer h n, h y Ce 3 p D196,457 10/1963 Wayner interest 2,655,259 10/1953 Davoren..206/42 [22] Filed: Sept 1969 Primary Examiner-Andrew R. Juhasz 21 App]359,377 Assistant Examiner-Leon Gilden Att0rney-Wilmer Mechlin [52] US.Cl ..225/93, 225/91 [57] ABSTRACT [51] Int. Cl. ..B26f 3/02 A devicereadily formable 1n a bottle cap for breaking [58] held of Search..225/93, 91,1, 9/254, 267, medicinal tablets into parts Suitable forreduced dosages.

8 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures FATENIED MAR 21 I972 FIG. 2.

FIG.

FIG. 3

FIG. 5

n 0Q "m t v 8 MH J S e l (l, a h C his Attorney MEDICINAL TABLET BREAKERBACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION While pills marketed in coated or capsuleform, usually to delay their action or prevent the taker from tastingtheir medicine, do not lend themselves to division, most pills are plainor uncoated medicinal tablets formed from medicated masses either inpill presses or by rolling and cutting. Each such tablet contains aparticular medication, ordinarily in a measured dosage suitable fortaking singly or in multiples by the average person. However, for manychildren and other persons the average dosage is too much and, if notavailable in a smaller size, the tablet must be broken into halves orsmaller parts containing the required reduced dosages. In such cases thetablet must be broken by the person giving or taking it, usually bycutting the tablet with the knife or other sharp instrument, with thedivision and cutting sometimes facilitated by scoring the pill duringmanufacture. But even with scoring, the fracture or cleavage in breakingseldom is clean or sharp and there ordinarily is attendant partialcrushing, with the result that one or more of the parts into which thetablet is broken must often be discarded. It is with this problem thatthe present invention is particularly concerned.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The primary object of the present invention isto provide an improved cap for a bottle of medicinal tabletsincorporating a breaker for breaking the tablets into parts suitable forreduced dosages.

Another object of the invention is to provide a medicinal tablet breakerformable either as part of the bottle cap or as a separate device andincluding a breaking edge over which a tablet is adapted to be brokenand means for positioning a lateral centerline of the tablet on thebreaking edge during breaking.

In its preferred form in which it has a bottle cap as a base and isstamped or molded thereinto, the improved medicinal tablet breaker hasin the top of the cap an upwardly opening recess ofa shape and size toaccommodate a side of any of the tablets in the bottle and divides therecess centrally into a pair of seats by an upwardly facing wedge, whoseleading edge forming the breaking edge extends diametrically across thereceptacle and sides slope downwardly on opposite sides of the edge tothe recessperiphery.

With the preferred breaking edge sharply defined but too dull orwide-angled to cut a user and no undercut surfaces to retain wasteparticles, the breaker may be put to use by holding the bottle with thecap applied upright in one hand, fitting half of the tablet into theseat at one side of the breaking edge and, while holding that halftightly in its seat with a finger of that hand, applying sufficientdownward pressure with a finger of the other hand to the unsupportedother half to break the tablet in half. If quarter dosages are needed,each half may then be halved in the same way. As opposed to cutting by aknife with the tablet supported on a flat surface, the break will beclean with negligible waste and follow almost exactly the line ofengagement with the breaking edge, thus ensuring the usability of bothparts.

The foregoing and other objects and features of the invention willappear hereinafter the detailed description, be particularly pointed outin the appended claims, and be illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

FIGURE DESCRIPTION FIG. I is a plan view of a bottle cap incorporating apreferred embodiment of the improved medicinal tablet breaker ofthepresent invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the cap of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view taken along lines 3-3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional view taken along lines 4-4 of FIG. 1;.and

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary perspective view of a bottle with the capapplied and the breaker being used to break a tablet.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The improved tablet breaker of the presentinvention, while particularly designed for breaking uncoated medicinaltablets and inappropriate for pills in the form of capsules containingmedicinal powders, if need be, can be used on coated tablets if thecoating is to render the tablet tasteless rather than to delay itsaction. Also, the improved breaker may be stamped. pressed, or molded,as appropriate, into a metal or plastic disk or other base attachableagainst loss or misplacement to a key "chain or bracelet. However, asparticularly lending itself to incorporation in either metal or plasticbottle caps, the breaker presumably will mainly be marketed in thatform. It therefore is as based on and part of a bottle cap that theimproved breaker has been illustrated as exemplary ofthe invention.

Designated as l, the improved tablet breaker may have as its base 2 anybottle cap suitable for use in closing a bottle 3 packaging medicinaltablets. Thus, the cap 2 may be made of metal or plastic and adapted tobe screwed or snapped on or otherwise releasably connected to the bottlefor closing the top or other opening through which the bottle is filledwith and discharged of its contents. The illustrated cap 2 convenientlyis of the screw type and contains the usual compressible liner orsealing gasket 4 for sealing against the top of the bottle when the capis applied.

The cap usually will be formed by stamping or pressing, if metal, and bymolding, if plastic. The tablet breaker 1, too, can be metal or plasticand, like the previously described separate form, can have as a base ordisk fixed to the top of the cap or even fitted loosely therein for usewhenever needed. However, the latter alternative should rarely be used,since the breaker in its preferred form is so readily cleanable and somuch more convenient for use when presented or exposed as a fixed partat the top of the cap. And a separately formed breaker fixed to the topof the cap should be almost as rare in view of the readiness with whichthe breaker can be formed as an integral part of the cap by suitablyconfiguring the die or mold in which the cap is made, and theillustrated cap integrally incorporating the breaker contemplates thismode of manufacture.

Suitably centered on the upper surface or top 5 of the cap 2, and, asdesired, either insert therein or in a boss 6 projecting thereabove, thelatter if, as illustrated, the liner 4 is in the form of the usualsubstantially flat unapertured disk, the improved breaker l is comprisedof an upwardly facing or exposed breaking splitting or cleaving edge 7and means for positioning or locating a lateral centerline of a tableton or along the breaking edge, with at least one of the tablet halves onopposite sides of the centerline unsupported. Straight, horizontally orcrosswise or laterally of the cap 2, the breaking edge 7 is of a lengthto contain a diameter or, if noncircular, a central width or length ortransverse or longitudinal dimension of the tablets 9 packaged in thebottle 3. If the particular tablets are scored across their centers,fitting of the breaking edge into the scoring of any tablet willautomatically center the breaking edge on the tablet and it then is onlynecessary that half of the tablet on one side of the breaking edge beunsupported by and clear of or spaced above any underlying structure.However, at least for unscored tablets, the breaker requires inbuiltpositioning means and that preferred is an upwardly opening seat socketor pocket 8 at a side of and terminated or bounded along an adjoiningedge or end by the breaking edge. Ofa size and shape to seat, receive,or accommodlate half or a half portion of a side or face 10 of one ofthe tablets along a central lateral dimension thereof normal to thatcontained by the breaking edge, the seat 8, outwardly of or away fromthe breaking edge 7, is bounded laterally in part or whole by a rim orside wall 11. Conforming substantially in contour to the correspondingportion of an edge 12 of a tablet half seated in the seat 8, the rim 11is of sufficient length and depth, as, when engaged with that edgeportion, to position or locate a diameter or other lateral centerline ofthe tablets presented face on or along the breaking edge 7.

With a breaker having both the breaking edge 7 and the seat 8, it isstill essential for breaking a tablet that the tablet half not seated inthe seat be unsupported and clear of any underlying structure, so thatdownward pressure applied to the unsupported half away from the breakingedge will be resisted only by the tablet itself. Thus, if, as in theillustrated embodiment, a seated tablet is tilted upwardly beyond thebreaking edge, and the latter is flush with or on the level of the topof the cap ora boss thereon, the surface at the opposite side of thebreaking edge may be a flat surface flush and merging with the breakingedge. Alternately, a tablet may lie horizontally in the seat with itsunsupported half suspended over a suitable recess on the opposite sideof the breaking edge. In any case, the breaking edge 7, while sharplydefined, should be too blunt or broad-angled to cut a uservIncorporating the foregoing essentials, the preferred embodiment of thebreaker 1 has the breaking edge 7 centered between a pair of the seats8, one on each side of the breaking edge, and forms the breaking edge asthe upwardly pointing or directed leading edge ofa wedge 13, whosepreferably flat opposite sides 14 are inclined or slope downwardly andoutwardly from theirjunction along the breaking edge to the rims ll ofthe seats. Together now forming a recess 15, interrupted centrally bythe breaking edge 7, and having as their bottoms the sloping sides 14 ofthe 13, the preferred seats 8, for the usual circular tablet, areoppositely inclined, upwardly divergent, semi-cylindrical segments,whose angularly related axes intersect at the center of the breakingedge and whose surfaces, and those of the breaking edge, are allupwardly exposed for preventing entrapment of any small particles of atablet broken off during breaking thereof. Over a breaker having thebare essentials, the preferred breaker has the advantage of enabling auser to seat or insert a tablet half in either seat, with the other seatthen not only providing the essential non-support for the unseatedtablet half, but adapted to catch the latter as the tablet breaks.

For tablets whose sides 10 are arcuately convex rather than fiat, thebreaking edge 7 and bottom 14 ofa seat 8 of any embodiment of thebreaker 1 may be correspondingly arcuately concave to provide surfaceinstead of line contact with the presented side of a tablet. However,even for tablets having curved sides, a straight breaking edge andflat-bottomed seat ordinarily will suffice.

In use for breaking or splitting a medicinal tablet, the improvedbreaker l, whether formed as part of a bottle cap 2 or as a separatemember with its own base, may be placed on a table or other suitablesupport. However, if part of a bottle cap, it usually will be moreconvenient to use the breaker with the cap screwed on or otherwisereleasably attached to the bottle. In such case, the bottle can readilybe held upright in one hand and no supporting surface is needed. But,whether supported through the bottle or on a separate supportingsurface, the breaker in use will be positioned with its seat or seats 8upwardly facing and its breaking edge 7 upwardly exposed or presentedfor engagement with a presented, then under or lower, side or face of atablet, so that, in breaking, the tablet will be broken downwardly overor against the breaking edge by a downward force simultaneously appliedto the tablet at both sides of the breaking edge, rather than, as usual,being broken on a supporting surface by downward force applied to aknife or other cutting edge.

When the downward breaking force is applied to the upper side or face ofa tablet, the breaking edge 7 acts as a fulcrum and concentrates theopposing upward force along a corresponding cross-line or, moreprecisely, cross-plane of the tablet. Consequently, since medicinaltablets are compacted from powdered masses and neither fibrous norcrystalline, a tablet under such force will break along the line orplane of contact with the breading edge. Thus, the crushing inevitablyobtaining when an edge however sharp, is pressed downwardly against atablet, is practically nonexistent. At the same time the positioning orlocating of the center of the tablet on the breaking edge of the seat 8in which half of the tablet is seated during breaking, ensures that thetablet will break, split, cleave or be divided substantially exactly inhalf and with practically no waste, so that, after the breaking, bothhalves will be available for half dosages of the medicine of which thetablet is composed.

To ensure a clean break along the center of the tablet, it is necessarythat the downward force on the halves be simultaneously applied awayfrom and not over the breaking edge. But this necessity is readilyfulfilled, even on small pills, by using two fingers as theforce-applying means, one for each half of the tablet. Thus, in theexemplary use illustrated in FIG. 5, the fingers are thumbs, one holdingthe seated half of the tablet firmly in its seat and the other applyingthe companion downward force to the unsupported half. If covered, theseat itself could hold the seated halfin place during breaking and adownward force applied by one finger to the unsupported half wouldsuffice. However, contrary to the preferred embodiment in which allsurfaces of the breaker are exposed, this possible alternative wouldmitigate against the ability of the breaker to be rid of any minor wastethat may be produced in the breaking, simply by blowing into the breakeror inverting and tapping against it.

Although the division may not be quite so exact as when a tablet ishalved, because the seat 8 will not automatically position the centeralong the breaking edge 7, a tablet can be quartered into substantiallyequal quarter-dosages by first dividing each half into quarters. In thiscase the half-tablet will have one quarter seated in one side of theseat with its outer edge engaged by the rim 11 thereof and its brokeninner edge disposed normal to the breaking edge 7, whereupon a downwardforce, applied simultaneously to both the seated and unsupportedquarters, will break the tablet half along the line therebetween.

From the abovedetailed description it will be apparent that there hasbeen provided an improved medicinal tablet breaker, which, whenevernecessary, enables the tablet to be broken into usable halves or smallerparts. It should be understood that the described and disclosedembodiment is merely exemplary of the invention and that allmodifications are intended to be included that do not depart from thespirit of the invention and the appended claims.

Having now described my invention, I claim:

1. A device for breaking a medicinal tablet into parts, comprising abase, an upwardly directed exposed breaking edge on said base forengaging a presented underside of said tablet, and upwardly opening seatmeans on said base and having and at least partly bounded by upwardlydirected means engageable with an edge portion of said tablet forpositioning said tablet on said base during breaking with said undersidelaterally centered on said breaking edge and the parts of said tablet onopposite sides of said breaking edge respectively supported on andunsupported by and clear of said base, whereby downward pressure appliedto an upper side of said tablet on opposite sides of said breaking edgewill break said tablet thereon along said centerline.

2. A device according to claim 1, wherein the seat means includes anupwardly opening seat on a side of the breaking edge for receiving thesupported part and holding said part against lateral movement relativeto the base during breaking of the tablet.

3. A device according to claim 2, wherein the base is a cap of a bottlecontaining medicinal tablets, the breaking edge is straight laterally ofsaid cap and of a length to contain a central lateral dimension of oneof said tablets, the tablet parts are halves, and the seat is ofa sizeand shape to receive and fit one of said halves.

4. A device according to claim 3, wherein the breaking edge is inset inthe cap, and including a recess in the cap and extending below thebreaking edge on a side thereof opposite the seat for clearing theunsupported half of the tablet.

5. A device according to claim 3, wherein there are a pair of the seatsat opposite sides of the breaking edge, and the seats together form anupwardly opening socket in a top of the cap centrally interrupted by thebreaking edge,

downwardly and oppositely sloping sides of the wedge form bottoms of theseats.

any tablet particles therein.

8. A device according to claim 7, wherein each seat is adaptedalternately to seat half of a tablet during breaking and to receive onbreaking an unsupported halfofa tablet having a 7. A device according toclaim 6, wherein all surfaces of the 5 half Seated in the otherSeatbreaker are upwardly exposed for preventing entrapment of

1. A device for breaking a medicinal tablet into parts, comprising abase, an upwardly directed exposed breaking edge on said base forengaging a presented underside of said tablet, and upwardly opening seatmeans on said base and having and at least partly bounded by upwardlydirected means engageable with an edge portion of said tablet forpositioning said tablet on said base during breaking with said undersidelaterally centered on said breaking edge and the parts of sAid tablet onopposite sides of said breaking edge respectively supported on andunsupported by and clear of said base, whereby downward pressure appliedto an upper side of said tablet on opposite sides of said breaking edgewill break said tablet thereon along said centerline.
 2. A deviceaccording to claim 1, wherein the seat means includes an upwardlyopening seat on a side of the breaking edge for receiving the supportedpart and holding said part against lateral movement relative to the baseduring breaking of the tablet.
 3. A device according to claim 2, whereinthe base is a cap of a bottle containing medicinal tablets, the breakingedge is straight laterally of said cap and of a length to contain acentral lateral dimension of one of said tablets, the tablet parts arehalves, and the seat is of a size and shape to receive and fit one ofsaid halves.
 4. A device according to claim 3, wherein the breaking edgeis inset in the cap, and including a recess in the cap and extendingbelow the breaking edge on a side thereof opposite the seat for clearingthe unsupported half of the tablet.
 5. A device according to claim 3,wherein there are a pair of the seats at opposite sides of the breakingedge, and the seats together form an upwardly opening socket in a top ofthe cap centrally interrupted by the breaking edge.
 6. A deviceaccording to claim 5, wherein the breaking edge is the leading edge ofan upwardly facing wedge, and downwardly and oppositely sloping sides ofthe wedge form bottoms of the seats.
 7. A device according to claim 6,wherein all surfaces of the breaker are upwardly exposed for preventingentrapment of any tablet particles therein.
 8. A device according toclaim 7, wherein each seat is adapted alternately to seat half of atablet during breaking and to receive on breaking an unsupported half ofa tablet having a half seated in the other seat.